Office profile: Houston;

Page 1

Houston is a bright and booming,
growth-oriented city that has shed its
cow-country image and turned into the
corporate showplace of the great South­west.
As evidence of this, more than 150
companies have moved corporate head­quarters,
subsidiaries, divisions or branch
offices to Houston in the six-year period
prior to 1974. With these moves, more
than 8,000 executives and management
personnel entered the city's corporate
arena.
Between 1950 and 1970 the population
of metropolitan Houston more than dou­bled.
It now stands at nearly two million,
ranking Houston in sixth place among the
country's major cities. What's more, the
population is young and modern in out­look.
The median age is only twenty-six,
providing what many Houstonians con­sider
a more rigorous and talented work
force than is found in other large cities.
The spirit of optimism so prevalent in
the area today can be traced back to the
speculative birth of the city. In the spring
of 1836, the famed battle of San Jacinto, in
which General Sam Houston and his
Texian troops defeated Mexican General
Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna's army,
cleared the way for the establishment of
the Republic of Texas. Just four months
later, the brothers Augustus and John
Allen, enterprising land speculators from
upstate New York, bought 6,642 acres of
land for $1.40 an acre and staked out a
townsite on the muddy banks of Buffalo
Bayou. Shortly thereafter, when General
Houston became the first president of the
Republic of Texas, the city named in his
honor became the first capital.
Cotton, so well suited to the simmering
Brazos River bottomlands, sparked the
initial economic growth of the area. When
the famed Spindletop gusher blasted
Texas into the oil business in 1901, and
other prolific fields were found in the
Houston area shortly thereafter, the
economy boomed. Houston's business­men
soon felt the need for a shipping
outlet to the Gulf of Mexico. By the link­ing
and dredging of three natural water­ways,
Buffalo Bayou, the San Jacinto
River and Galveston Bay, a fifty-mile ship
channel was made. This foresight has
enabled Houston to become one of the
world's major seaports, ranking third in
the country in total tonnage and still
undergoing extensive capital improve­ments.
It was foresight of a similar nature
that contributed to the feeling of spa­ciousness
in the downtown business area.
When the brothers Allen laid out the city,
they wanted, in spite of criticism, streets
that were wide enough for a wagon to
turn around in, thus avoiding the conges­tion
that plagues many other growing
cities today.
Haskins & Sells' presence in Houston
goes back to 1937, when an office was
opened there largely for the convenience
of handling participating work for clients
of other offices. Up until 1963, less than
half of the practice was originating. H&S
merged that year with the prominent firm
of Phillips, Sheffield, Hopson, Lewis &
Luther, which had a large local practice
and a significant tax practice. Today more
than 75 percent of the Houston office
practice is originating. Tax work now
comprises about 20 percent of the total
practice. Small business services are
becoming more and more important, and
the Management Advisory Services
group is growing rapidly.
The home of H&S in Houston is the
twenty-sixth floor of the Houston Natural
Gas Building in the heart of the central
business district. The growth of the prac­tice
has made it necessary to lease half of
the twenty-fifth floor and the Tax Depart­ment
has moved to new quarters there.
The partner in charge in Houston is
youthful and energetic Robert J. Cruik-shank,
a man whose progressive outlook
and enthusiasm are reflected in the
office's exceptionally high morale and
professionalism.
"We put a lot of emphasis in our office
on communication with our staff and on
recruiting and development," Bob says.
"We believe that if we keep our people
aware of our efforts and desires, they can
address themselves to helping us achieve
our goals and, in turn, the goals of the
Firm. As for recruiting, our livelihood
depends upon our ability to hire bright,
aggressive people who can provide top-quality
service for our clients and who can
eventually become the leaders of our
Firm. We are also establishing programs to
ease the burden upon our people in
making the transition from college to the
business world.
"I have been involved in recruiting for
many years and have always believed one
of its biggest rewards to be the satisfaction
that comes from participating in and
monitoring the professional development
of our people. The techniques and atti­tude
necessary to recruit well can also be
very useful in dealing with clients and in
managing an office.
"We try to encourage independent and
creative thinking by attempting to imple­ment
new ideas that will benefit the office
and the practice. For example, partner Jim
Dunn and our librarian Jo Susa came up
with the idea of having classes in office
English for secretaries and clerical people.
Jo has two classes of a dozen women or so
each that she teaches one morning a
week. The classes are well prepared and
well received, and I'm sure they will be
helpful in our continuing efforts toward
clear and concise communication."
Bob Cruikshank grew up in DeQuincy,
Louisiana, and his entrance into the
accounting profession was somewhat
Office Profile
,^<4^K^i2^**,jar"
USTOTC "...for a
place in
the sun.'